A New Cinderella Story
by yasha012
Summary: This is not your typical Cinderella story. The difference? Sesshomaru's the one being treated like a slave! What happens when Kagome gets involved? RATED FOR OLDER TEENS! (P.S. This is the new version!)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own, nor claim to own, any of the characters in this story. All characters belong solely to Rumiko Takahashi.**

**Warning: There is severe swearing in this story (as well as use of other mature words), and Miroku continues to be his lecherous self.**

**Rated for Older Teens!**

Sesshomaru sat in his dark room on his bed with books, papers, notebooks, and pencils strewn about it. He scribbled furiously in a notebook, struggling to solve some complex math problem, erasing furiously as he made another mistake. The alarm clock on the small wooden nightstand next to his bed read '12:30 A.M.' in bright green characters. A light suddenly clicked on in the hallway, flooding his room with bright yellow light from under his door. A loud, booming voice echoed into his room.

"Sesshomaru, get your ass out here _now_!"

Sesshomaru jumped severely, his heart skipping frantically, and he flew out of bed, literally dropping everything to answer the call. He tore his door open and raced down the hall to where a woman in her early thirties stood in the doorway of a small bathroom. Her almost ridiculously long hair was in disarray and her clothes were ruffled from sleep. She radiated fury.

"What the hell is this?" she demanded, pointing furiously to a spot on the floor behind her.

"A… smudge," he mumbled uncertainly, peering cautiously around her.

"Damn right it is!" she roared. "And _what_ did I tell you?!"

"Not to stop cleaning until the house was perfect," he practically whispered.

And then she slapped him. Hard. So hard that his head whipped around, giving him an instant neck ache to accompany the burning stinging in his cheek. His hand flew up to cover it. She grabbed his arm and practically threw him into the bathroom.

"Now clean it up! And I swear, if I find _one_ spot left on that floor I will _personally_ kill you!"

He didn't doubt it. Shivering at the weight of her threat, he slowly picked up the mop she'd thrown at him and began filling the dirty old metal bucket with cleaner. This was going to be a long night.

No less than three hours later, his alarm was going off and he quickly hit the 'off' button before it woke the other two members of the house up. They were terrible around him on the best of days, and he hated to think of what they were like when they were woken up early. Sighing, he slipped out of bed and silently began to dress. He quickly ran his fingers through his hair, knowing he didn't really need to brush it, and began gathering up his school supplies. He sighed again, knowing that there was a thin chance of him finishing his homework before getting to school, let alone before class started. Deciding that there was nothing he could do, he grabbed his bag and crept downstairs, shrugging into a light jacket as he went. He practically tiptoed down the stairs, still wary of waking someone, and snuck into the kitchen. He'd been grounded from food three days ago, and he didn't know how long that punishment would last this time. Last time it had been three weeks. Normally for a demon that wasn't a big deal, but that was only if they were properly fed when they _did_ get hungry. And, for the most part, that had never happened for him. Deciding that he was hungry enough to take a risk, he quickly opened a cupboard to the right of the sink and pulled out a loaf of bread. He only took one piece. Sure, he was feeling brave, but he wasn't stupid. There was already a chance that they'd notice the single piece missing. Any more than that, and he'd practically be _asking_ for death, or at least a beating. Neither held very much appeal. Heart pounding, he grabbed his bag again, shouldered it, and ran out the door.

He hated the fact that he had to be out of the house so early. But if he wasn't gone by the time his stepmother got up, which was always around 4:30 so that she had time to cook her "precious little angel" a five-course breakfast, she would yell and scream at him, hit him (something she often let her "angel" take part in), and make him do so many chores that she ensured he was late to school. All the while, Inuyasha got to take a hot, hour-long shower, eat a ton of food, watch T.V., and get driven to school. While he was lucky to get a cold, two-minute shower, starved most mornings, and had to walk to school.

Like now.

He sighed for what already felt like the millionth time that day, wishing he'd grabbed a heavier jacket. It was chilly outside, even for a demon, and he pulled his jacket a little tighter around himself. If nothing else, he wished he'd grabbed a jacket that actually closed. This one had no buttons, no zippers, no nothing. It _sucked_.

He shivered again and pulled a small disposable phone out of his pocket, relieved that his stepmother hadn't discovered it yet. He wasn't supposed to have a phone of any kind, wouldn't even have it if it weren't for his friend Miroku, who'd insisted that Sesshomaru have it, just in case. Giving in without much of a fight, Sesshomaru had accepted the phone. Now, he checked the time. It was barely 3:50 in the morning. Perhaps he would have time to finish his homework.

He wandered into a park not far from the house, sat down at the same table he sat at every morning, and began pulling out his homework. After twenty minutes or so, he was able to finish the math homework he'd been struggling with the night before. It seemed that getting some sleep, as little though it was, was all he'd needed to finally understand the problems he'd been staring at for so long. After that, it was on to science. Science wasn't especially hard for him, but the work was tedious, lengthy, boring even. By the time he finished the first set questions on the first page of the three-page packet, it was about time for his stepmother to start getting up. He shivered again and resisted the urge to try sneaking back into the house to get another jacket. He'd gotten away with similar feats before, but he'd already tried his luck with the bread earlier, and he had no desire to push his luck even further. No, he'd just wait it out, like he did every morning that it proved to be colder than he'd expected.

He shook his head, inwardly cursing himself for getting distracted by his thoughts. It was almost five in the morning now, and he had to start walking to school by six, otherwise he'd be late. As it was, he was already cutting it close by leaving then. And he still had to finish his science. That was all he had to do, and then he'd be done. But it was taking so long, and he had so much more to do…

_'Screw it,' _he thought irritably, slamming his orange textbook shut. He was screwed anyway. There was no way he'd be able to finish it. Even if he'd kept working nonstop until it was time to go, he'd still only be half finished. Feeling unnecessarily angry for some reason, he stood and began shoving things into his backpack, not caring at all about how it crumpled his papers and bent his notebooks. He just didn't care. Not right now. Perhaps later, once his irrational anger had faded, but not now. _'Screw it,' _he thought again.

He angrily shouldered his bag and walked out of the park, purposefully going slower than usual so he wouldn't arrive at school so early. He didn't know what he was so angry about, really. It was nothing new, not being able to finish his homework. He shouldn't have been so angry. It was nothing different. But he wished that once, just _once_ he'd be able to get everything done and get the grades he wanted. But he knew that there was no chance of that ever happening. As long as his homework continued to be incomplete when he turned it in, his grades would suffer. And there wasn't a single thing he could do about it.

It was times like these that he wished his father were still around. He would have cared. He would have done something about all this, would have stopped his evil stepmother, would have found a way to make things better. But he was dead, and nothing could ever change that.

Sesshomaru started when a car sped by, honking its horn obscenely loudly, the driver giving him the finger as he went by. Sesshomaru glared, angry all over again. What the hell had that been for?! He hadn't done anything! He'd just been walking on the sidewalk! What had he done to deserve that? What had he done to deserve any of this? Why did everyone seem to hate him so much?

Slowly, he became aware of how long he'd been lost in his thoughts. Pulling out the small flip phone he'd been given, he checked the time. It was already 6:30. School started at seven. Swearing softly to himself, he began to run. Despite going as fast as he could, given how heavy his bag was, he still only barely made it to school ten minutes before the first bell. He stood in front of the lockers, leaning with his hands on his knees, panting heavily. As usual, no one seemed to notice him. The crowds flowed noisily around him, ignoring him, oblivious to him, and he ignored them, too.

Once he'd caught his breath, he made his way over to his locker and put in the combination. Once it was open, he began pulling things out of his bag and placing them inside before pulling other things out of his locker and putting them into his bag. He had just put his backpack back on when a familiar face suddenly popped up right in front of his.

"Hey!"

"What the-?!" Sesshomaru exclaimed, startled, stumbling back a couple of steps. "What the hell, Miroku?! Don't _do_ that!"

Miroku laughed, clearly pleased with himself, while Sesshomaru glared. He was _not_ in the mood for this. He closed his locker, perhaps a bit too hard, irritably twisting the dial on his lock to make sure it was locked. Miroku didn't seem to notice his mood. Either that, or he just didn't care.

"So I met a new girl yesterday," Miroku said conversationally, grinning widely.

"So?" Sesshomaru said, still unhappy. "You're always meeting new girls."

"Well this girl's different," Miroku said confidently.

"How?" Sesshomaru asked skeptically.

"I don't know," Miroku answered with a one-shouldered shrug. "She's just special somehow. I can feel it."

"Last time you said that, Melanie or whatever her name was turned out to just be a prissy girl who was using you for money," Sesshomaru reminded him.

"This time's different," Miroku insisted. "Trust me. I can tell. Anyway, she already has a friend here, too. And that's the best part."

"Dare I ask why?" Sesshomaru sighed. He was almost afraid to ask. There was no telling how many perverted answers his friends could give him.

"Her friend's hot," Miroku grinned.

Sesshomaru rolled his eyes and turned to walk away, headed for his first class. The bell was about to ring, anyway.

"Hey, if you'd seen her you'd agree with me!" Miroku called after him, pretending to be angry for a moment before running to catch up with him. "So did you finish-"

He was cut off by a familiar angry voice, shouting his name.

"_Miroku_!"

Sesshomaru turned to see Sango storming over, a familiar fire in her eyes that told him his friend had done something stupid and was about to pay for it. While he didn't know the girl very well, he grudgingly gave her his respect, something not many people got from him. She was strong (both physically and in will), independent, and, he reluctantly admitted (despite having no interest in her), that she was quite pretty. However, he doubted she even really knew he existed. Sure, she knew he hung out with Miroku, but he doubted she noticed him beyond that. He didn't hold it against her. Not really. He sometimes resented her for it, resented everyone for it, but for the most part, he just couldn't bring himself to be angry. Most of the time, he found it easier not to care.

Miroku turned around slowly, pulling Sesshomaru from his thoughts, a look of horror dawning on his face. Sesshomaru watched, expressionless, as events unfolded.

"S-Sango…" Miroku stammered nervously. "How are you?"

"What the hell were you thinking?!" she demanded furiously, ignoring his attemot at small talk.

"Uh, I…" he stammered again, trailing off, sweating nervously.

"You're a sick bastard!" she screamed.

Sesshomaru calmly turned to his friend.

"What did you do this time?" he asked.

"He touched my friend's butt!" Sango snarled.

Sesshomaru sighed.

"Idiot."

Miroku sweat dropped. Sango quickly proceeded to slap Miroku's face before stalking off to class, Sesshomaru following suit.

Nothing especially interesting happened until lunch. It was just lectures and class work and homework and prying questions about what was going on at home that was affecting his homework, because they knew he could do better.

He ignored it all.

In the lunchroom, Inuyasha, Sesshomaru's accursed half-brother, and his girlfriend Kikyo were stalking around causing problems, as per usual, stealing lunches, pick pocketing people, knocking them over, harassing them, and just all around making life miserable. And of course, none of the staff seemed to notice. Of course. Sesshomaru hardly paid any attention to it, nibbling at his lunch instead, wondering absently where his friend was. Probably with a girl, he figured. He wondered if it was the girl he'd mentioned earlier. Just as that thought crossed his mind, he was pulled out of his thoughts by a pained yell.

"Ow! Let go! You're hurting me!"

He turned and saw a young girl with long raven hair pulling feebly at her arm while Inuyasha dug his claws into it through her long sleeve, snickering maliciously. Her skin practically glowed in the sunlight streaming from the windows all around the cafeteria, with blemishes to be seen. She was wearing a long sleeved white and green shirt and a green skirt, the white of one of her sleeves beginning to show spots of red where Inuyasha's claws were stabbing her.

"No way, bitch." Inuyasha smirked. "Not until you give me my fucking money. Either that, or kiss me like the slut you are. I don't care which."

"No way!" she yelled, pulling harder at her arm in an attempt to break free, Inuyasha's iron grip holding her in place. "I don't owe you any money! And I am _not_ kissing you!"

"Just give us the damn money, you whore!" Kikyo shouted, raising her hand to slap the poor girl.

Sesshomaru was about to get up and do something when Sango appeared in whirlwind of fury, wrenching Inuyasha's hand open by the sheer force of her will and shoving him backward. He slammed into Kikyo and they fell into an undignified heap onto the ground. Sango pushed the girl behind her. The girl cradled her arm to her chest, not seeming anywhere near as upset as most of the girls he'd seen would have been. Angry? Yes. Scared and near tears? No. Most girls would have been. From his experience, anyway.

"If you _ever_ touch her again I'll slay your ass!" Sango yelled at Inuyasha, the duo glaring furiously at her. "I have a blade and I know how to fucking use it!"

Inuyasha quickly stood, Kikyo following suit.

"You'll pay for this, you bitch!" he yelled back. "I'll make your life a fucking hell!"

Sango ignored him, already starting to walk away with the girl.

"Is your arm okay, Kagome?" she asked, looking worried.

The girl, Kagome apparently, smiled at her.

"Yeah, it's fine. Nothing serious," she said. "Thanks for that."

"No problem," Sango replied, returning her smile. "Anything for a friend."

"You don't really have a blade on you, do you?" Kagome asked, their voices growing quieter as they exited the lunchroom.

"No, but they don't need to know that."

Sesshomaru looked away form the doors they'd exited through, about to take another bite of his burger, when Inuyasha and Kikyo's conversation filtered into his mind. He turned to find them glaring at the doors Sesshomaru had been looking at just moments ago, as if the doors themselves had betrayed them.

"Those fucking bitches," Inuyasha muttered darkly. "They'll pay for that."

Kikyo laid a hand on his shoulder soothingly.

"Don't worry about it. We'll get them eventually," she replied. "And in the meantime, let's call your mother and tell her how your stupid brother ruined everything, daring to lay a hand on you, and how he somehow found a way to get himself something he shouldn't have."

"Like a phone," Inuyasha suggested with a grin. "Oh, she'll be fucking _pissed_ if she thinks he has a phone."

They began to walk away, laughing at the possibilities, while Sesshomaru sat there at his lonely table, a horrible sinking feeling making itself known in his stomach. He stood up, suddenly losing his appetite, shouldered his bag, dealt with his tray, and left, almost quite literally bumping into Miroku on the way out.

"Hey, I was just coming to sit with you," Miroku said with a friendly grin. Noticing his friend's face, he asked, "What's wrong?"

"Inuyasha and Kikyo are going to get me in trouble again," Sesshomaru replied with a sigh, knowing that his friend would find out eventually anyway, whether Sesshomaru told him or not. "They're calling Izayoi right now."

"_Shit_," Miroku said seriously. "What are they planning on telling her this time?"

Sesshomaru just shrugged. Miroku continued to try to pry for more information, but Sesshomaru wouldn't respond. Finally giving up, at least for now, Miroku changed the subject.

"Did you at least manage to finish your homework?" he asked.

"Everything but science," Sesshomaru muttered.

"Damn," Miroku swore again. "I fucking _hate_ your stepmother! She's such a witch! Why doesn't she care about your grades?!"

"Because she thinks I'll be a live-in slave for the rest of my life," Sesshomaru muttered darkly. Then he declared, "Whether I can go to college after high school or not, there's no _way_ I'm staying there. I'm moving out as soon as I graduate. Then, at least the law will be on my side when I leave. I'll be old enough."

"That isn't soon enough," Miroku muttered.

He stopped walking and stood in front of Sesshomaru, looking at him seriously. Sesshomaru blinked at him, his expression carefully blank.

"Sesshomaru, we've got to do something about this," he said, completely serious, his joking side completely gone for the time being. "I go home every day wondering what the hell is happening to you, if you're okay, if you're at home bleeding to death or something, if you're eating, if you're getting any rest, if I'll even see you the next day. I worry about you every fucking night because you're like my brother and I'm always afraid she's going to do something horrible to you and I won't be there to do anything about it."

"What are we supposed to do?" Sesshomaru asked, suddenly angry. "Call CPS? The cops? What are _they_ going to do? There's no evidence! There no proof that anything's going on! She'll just act like everything's fine like she did the last time and then I'll get beaten for it because it'll be _my_ fault they came!"

"You called someone?" Miroku asked, surprised, the anger that he'd been starting to show disappearing all at once.

"Once," Sesshomaru muttered. "Never again."

Miroku looked like he was about to say something, but the bell rang just then, interrupting him. He sighed heavily.

"We'll discuss this later," he muttered. "I'll see you around. _Call_ me if anything happens tonight. I mean it."

With that, he walked away, not receiving a response from Sesshomaru. Sesshomaru stood there for a moment, clutching the strap of his messenger bag tightly in two white-knuckled fists before forcing himself to relax and walk to class.

After school, he walked home with heavy steps, knowing full well what was coming and dreading it. The moment he stepped in the door his bag was ripped off of him and thrown across the room by a very pissed Izayoi. Inuyasha stood a ways behind her in front of the stairs, smirking triumphantly. Izayoi yelled and screamed, beating him until he fell to the floor, covering his head in an effort to keep from sustaining any serious injury. Then she started kicking him, hard. He was pretty sure Inuyasha put a few kicks in, too. Somehow, she got past his arms and kicked his face, knocking his head back into the wall, making him see stars. His nose started gushing blood and he coughed painfully, thinking it might be broken. She kicked him again, her boot-clad foot connecting with his forehead this time. His head hit the wall again, almost knocking him out. A third kick, and everything went black.

When he woke up, it was already dark outside. His head was throbbing. Everything hurt. He slowly sat up, feeling nauseous. His clothes were covered in blood, as was the floor. At least his nose had stopped bleeding. On the floor by was a pile of cleaning supplies, carelessly tossed there from a closet upstairs. He sighed, despite how much his chest and stomach protested the action, and stood up. His body shook with pain and his vision swam. He didn't feel good. He felt like he was going to be sick. He felt like he was going to pass out again. He felt like he was just going to fall again and never be able to get back up. He swayed unsteadily on his feet for a few more moments before cautiously letting go of the doorknob on the front door. He hadn't even realized he'd grabbed it. Blood smeared on the previously shiny gold-painted doorknob.

Suddenly, a thought struck him. His phone was gone. His pockets were empty. That meant Izayoi had found it. Which meant he'd be getting another beating, perhaps even worse than this one had been, when she woke up. He trembled at the thought before grabbing the mop by his feet and the dented old metal bucket near it. He knew that if he didn't clean like she obviously wanted, it would be even worse for him when morning came. He trembled a bit more forcefully at the thought.

He limped into the kitchen, leaving a trail of bloody footprints as he went. Great. Even more work for him to do. It would already be hard enough to clean the blood off of the floors regardless of what color they were, but did the kitchen tile _have_ to be _white_? That was even worse. He had just started quietly filling the bucket in the sink when the house phone, the one he recalled he was _never_ supposed to touch, began to ring. In a heartbeat he had turned off the water and snapped the phone up, clicking the "talk" button before it had even finished one ring.

"Hello?" a voice whispered on the other end.

"Miroku?" Sesshomaru whispered back in surprise, his voice scratchy and hoarse.

His throat hurt, on top of everything else, something he hadn't noticed until now. That was just great. Now Miroku would _know_ something was wrong.

"You sound terrible," Miroku said, seemingly relieved that it was Sesshomaru who'd answered.

"I noticed," Sesshomaru muttered, not at all in the mood for this. "What do you want?"

He was thinking about how he was going to have to find a way to wash the phone now, on top of everything else, when Miroku answered.

"What happened to you?" Miroku asked, ignoring his question. "I've been trying to call you for hours."

"Izayoi found my phone," Sesshmaru said simply, not bothering to divulge any more information. "Now _what_ do _want_?"

He was angry again, and for once, Miroku seemed to notice.

"Just hear me out," Miroku said, a pleading note in his voice. "I'll make it quick."

"Make it _very_ quick," Sesshomaru grumbled.

Miroku spoke quickly and Sesshomaru's eyes widened. He nearly dropped the phone in his shock.

"You did _what_?" he hissed furiously into the phone.

"I didn't do it!" Miroku said defensively. "Sango's friend Kagome did! She found out about Inuyasha's mom and stuff and took matters into her own hands!"

"And how the hell did she find out about that?" Sesshomaru asked pointedly, shaking with a surge of what he knew to be irrational anger.

"It doesn't matter right now!" Miroku replied, avoiding the question, causing Sesshomaru to growl. "Right now you need to get packed!"

"What?" Sesshomaru asked, too surprised to be angry at the moment.

"We're coming to get you!" Miroku said. "My mom and I. We're already coming, so you can't stop us. We're going to be there in like ten minutes. We're getting you out of there."

"And where the hell am I supposed to go?" Sesshomaru demanded. "I have _nowhere_ to go, and it's not like I have any family to take me in!"

"You're coming with _us_, idiot!" Miroku said forcefully. "My parents are fine with it, so there's no argument you can make about it."

"But-"

"No buts! Get packing! We're gonna be there soon!"

Sesshomaru sighed heavily in defeat. There was no way he was going to win this fight. He didn't know why he was even fighting it to begin with.

"Fine. I'll meet you out front, I guess."

"That's fine. Less chance we'll wake them up that way."

"Won't the cops and CPS wake them up, anyway?" Sesshomaru muttered.

"No, they agreed to let us get you out of there first, so you wouldn't be in danger. They're right behind us, but they won't turn on their sirens or anything until you're out."

"Oh."

"Now get going!"

"Okay."

"You've got five minutes! I'll see you then!"

"Okay. Bye."

"Bye!"

Heart pounding, Sesshomaru set the phone down and limped to the stairs, climbing them as quickly as he could, with his legs being as badly injured as they were. He didn't know exactly know what had happened to them (he didn't remember her hitting him there at all), but it was clear they were injured. Each step was agony, and he leaned heavily on the highly polished, shiny wooden rail, practically pulling himself upstairs. He crept down the dark hallway and into his tiny bedroom. It was hardly a bedroom, really. Just a dingy little closet with a tiny old mattress, a single wall outlet for his alarm clock, a tiny one-drawer nightstand, and a basket to keep his clothes in. He didn't own anything else.

He used to have a real bedroom, he recalled, back when his father had been alive. But now it had been turned into a second room for Inuyasha, with a giant flat screen T.V., a massage chair, and mountains of video games. His father's room had suffered a similar fate, becoming a walk-in closet for Izayoi. He'd cleaned it enough times to know. It looked nothing like the calm room he remembered, where he used to go and sit in his father's lap at night when he was little, listening to him read until he fell asleep.

He pushed that painful thought away, still feeling the same devastation at the thought of his father's death as he had the night he'd heard the awful news. He'd still been little then, barely old enough to start school, but he remembered the day well. It had been one of the worst days of his life. And he'd had a lot of bad days since then. His father had gone to work and never come home, hadn't answered Izayoi's calls. None of his co-workers had had any idea where he was. They'd thought he'd gone home already. The police had searched for hours, until late in the night. Inuyasha had been littler than him, had been asleep in his mother's lap by the time the police came, while Sesshomaru had been told to man up and stop crying. He'd been sitting in his room, sniffling quietly, when the knock came. Izayoi had answered it, and he'd heard the police. He'd heard them give her the news. They'd found a body, asked for her to identify the face, showed her a picture. She'd said it was him, they'd apologized, and soon they'd left. Everything got so much worse then. Izayoi had never liked him. Sesshomaru had always known that, but his father had never seen it. He'd always smile gently and tell his young son that he knew it was hard getting used to a new mom, but that everything would get better soon.

Oh, how wrong he'd been…

Sesshomaru stumbled down the stairs with the basket of clothes and his backpack. His shoulder was on fire where his backpack strap rested, but he did his best to ignore it. Just as he stepped outside, an unfamiliar blue car pulled up in front of the house. The passenger window rolled down and Miroku leaned out, waving frantically at him to get in. Sesshomaru limped over as quickly as he could, pushing the small basket and his bag in before climbing in himself. He saw police pulling up behind the car as he closed the door.

"Holy shit…" Miroku muttured, his eyes wide, as he looked at his friend.

His mother glared at him for his language but silently seemed to agree with him. They watched as he fumbled with the buckle for a moment before somehow making his fingers cooperate and buckling himself in.

"What happened to you?" Miroku asked, looking scared.

"Don't question him right now, dear," his mother said quietly but sternly. "He's been through enough already."

Miroku just nodded, eyes still wide. She turned to look at Sesshomaru, who was looking down at his lap, unsure what to do with himself.

"Is this all you have?" she asked gently.

He nodded, earning a returning nod from her, and she turned forward in her seat, Miroku doing the same. As they sped off into the night, sirens wailed around them, filling the area with flashing red and blue lights. As Sesshomaru turned away from the scene, he caught a glimpse of the front door opening and a woman with messy long black hair rushing outside before they turned a corner and the only home he'd ever known disappeared from view.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N No particular warnings in this chapter, beyond the ones stated before.**

Sleep did not come easily for Sesshomaru that night. Of course, that could easily be excused by his pain from the beating he had received (he _refused_ to go to the hospital) but he knew there were other reasons, even if he was reluctant to acknowledge some of them. They were silly, in his opinion, but still, he couldn't shake them.

One. He was in an unfamiliar house in an unfamiliar bed surrounded by unfamiliar scents with the knowledge that this unfamiliar house was filled with several unfamiliar people. Sesshomaru did not like unfamiliar things.

Two. Yes, he admitted it, he was in pain. But his hatred of hospitals bothered him more.

Three. He couldn't stop thinking about his father. That flashback earlier had triggered a series of other memories that he just couldn't seem to block out. They just wouldn't go away… He really wished they would.

Four. This whole thing had been a surprise, and surprises had been historically bad for him. Like the time Inuyasha had leapt out at him in middle of the night in the dark hallway with a fake but very real looking knife, or the time that Izayoi had taken them to the zoo, only for him to find out that he was expected to sit in the car the whole time, or the time he learned that his father had died. Sesshomaru did not like surprises.

Five. There was a cat. Outside the window. It was stupid really, but it was giving him the creeps. Being a dog demon, he had an almost instinctive dislike (though not necessarily hatred) for cats, both demons and regular alike. But this cat wouldn't stop… staring at him…

The next thing Sesshomaru knew, he was practically flying out of bed, a loud, high-pitched beeping sounding from a neighboring room. He sat back down, his heart pounding, reminding himself that he didn't have to get up today. And if even if he did, he forced himself to remember that he wasn't with Izayoi now, and thereofore didn't have to worry about getting up the instant his alarm clock went off. Not that it was his alarm clock. A deep, definitively male groan told him it was Miroku's, and the loud _thump _that followed likely meant his friend had just fallen out of bed. His muffled curses were further proof of that.

Sesshomaru sighed, slowly lying back on the bed. He knew he'd be lucky to get back to sleep. He'd never slept in before. Even though it was only six in the morning, it was still rather late for him. Still, Miroku's mother had told him to rest today, promising to have Miroku get his schoolwork for him. That had been their agreement. So long as he rested, she wouldn't take him to the hospital. It had seemed reasonable, at the time, if only to get him out of going to the place where he'd watched people die.

_'What was I doing there, anyway? I think I remember seeing a woman who looked like me, but… I'm not sure. I think I was too young to remember. Was… was she my mother? Did she die too…?'_

Sesshomaru had always wondered about his mother, but had never worked up the nerve to ask. Somehow, he'd sensed that, whether she was dead or not, things were still tense between his father and his mother. So, he'd made things easy on everyone; he just didn't ask.

He had just begun drifting off again when he became aware of the soft creak of his door opening. A girl with raven hair poked her head in, cautiously peering at him. Her eyes widened when she realized he was awake. It took him a moment to recognize her, but when he did, he forced himself to calm down. She wasn't here to hurt him. He hoped.

"You're awake," Kagome said quietly.

He blinked.

"Um, are you hungry? No, wait, that was a stupid question," she said, opening the door a bit more and stepping in a bit. "You look half-starved… God, I'm so sorry…"

He looked away. He'd never been subject to much sympathy before, save for from Miroku, and it made him uncomfortable.

"What can I get you? I know it's early and all, but since you're awake…"

She shuffled her feet nervously, looking down at her slippers. Bunnies. Odd, he hadn't expected her to be interested in such childish things. But, then again, it wasn't as if he knew her.

"There's cereal," she continued. "Or waffles, toast, muffins, toast, or I could make you eggs, or…" she trailed off uncertainly.

A long moment of silence passed between them, so thick it was almost palpable. Neither one was looking at the other.

"Muffins," he said quietly, breaking the silence suddenly, causing her to look up sharply at him. "…Please."

She seemed shocked for a moment, but a large smile quickly spread across her face. Her eyes seemed to glow with happiness.

"Okay!"

She ran off down the stairs, her steps muffled even to his ears by her soft pink bunny slippers, whose ears bounced with each enthusiastic step. She returned moments later with a small plate containing two large blueberry muffins. Sesshomaru sat up and gratefully took a bite of one while Kagome left to get ready for school.

Sesshomaru would probably never admit it, but he loved muffins.

Twenty minutes later, he was asleep again, having somehow managed to drift off to sleep now that hunger wasn't clawing at his stomach like some savage animal trying to break free. Everything seemed to go steadily downhill from there.

First. When he woke up, he was greeted by a rather unwelcome sight. There was a cat on the bed. A small, fluffy white one with piercing blue eyes. The same one from last night that had been outside the window. Glancing to the door, he found that someone had left it open. Lovely. He'd have to talk to Miroku about this. Nice of his friend to warn him about that they owned a cat. And, of course, said cat tried to snuggle with him. It was promptly thrown off the bed. With what appeared to be an indignant huff, it strutted away. Good riddance.

Second. He was hot. Very hot. That wasn't a good sign. Creeping out of "his" room, he tiptoed down the hall. Perhaps it was just out of habit, but still. Right across the hall was the open bathroom. Sneaking in, he quietly shut the door and flicked on the light. After searching for a few minutes, he found what he was looking for. A thermometer for demons, who could get fevers far beyond what a normal human's thermometer could read, or even handle. Why Miroku's family had it, he had no idea. Still, he was grateful. Strange, he almost never felt that way, but he'd already felt it twice in one day. Shrugging it off, he looked the device over. Upon discovering that this was the kind that went in your ear, he pushed his hair aside with one hand while putting the thermometer in his ear with the other. He pushed the button, and after a moment, it beeped. He pulled it away, letting his filthy hair fall back into to place. The small green screen read _224_. Great. Groaning inwardly, he limped back to bed.

Third. He hadn't noticed it before, but his leg hurt, really badly. It felt like it might be broken. He really hoped it wasn't. Even for a demon, that would take at least a few weeks to heal, if only because he was still young, thus meaning he still hadn't fully developed his healing abilities. Plus, if it was broken, he'd _have_ to go to the hospital. If nothing else, they'd need to put a cast on it.

He was just laying on his back on the bed, arms spread out at his sides, waiting to notice something else that would ruin his day when he heard a soft knock on the door. He turned his head to look just as the door opened and Miroku's mother stepped in.

"Oh, good, you're awake," she said, smiling sweetly. "Did you sleep well?"

He shrugged. Honestly, the answer was "no", but he wasn't about to tell her that. She was being so nice, something that was rare for him, and he wasn't about to ruin it by being rude. She just smiled again, if a bit sadly.

"That's alright," she murmured, somehow having read between the lines. "With what you've been through, I can't blame you."

He looked away. Why did she have to keep bringing it up? Why couldn't he just be allowed to forget it ever happened?

"Is there anyone I can call, dear? Any relatives? Godparents? Family friends?"

He shook his head the moment she said "godparents".

"My dad's dead," he said quietly a moment later. "Mom probably is too. I don't know. I never had any other relatives."

"Family friends?" she asked again.

He shook his head.

"None that I ever knew of."

She was silent for a long time, looking serious as she contemplated things.

"Sesshomaru, I know this is a lot to ask, but I need you to decide what you want to do," she said seriously.

"What I want to do?" he repeated, not really following, returning his gaze to her.

She nodded, coming over to sit on the bed beside him. He shifted, rolling onto his side and moving several inches away from her. Proximity wasn't something he enjoyed, but he was too tired and sick to move off the bed entirely.

"Yes," she said. "Where you want to go, particularly. I can only see two options here."

He blinked, silently asking her to continue.

"You could stay with us, or you'll have to go into foster care," she said. "Do you know what that is?"

He nodded, frowning. Living with total strangers wasn't his idea of good time. He could barely handle _this_, and he at least knew these people were safe to be around.

"But, if you were to stay with us legally, we'd have to adopt you, or they'd take you away anyway," she continued seriously.

Several long moments of silence passed.

"What do you want to do?" she asked, looking at him.

It was silent again for a moment.

"I don't know," he finally mumbled.

This was too much to think about right now, and the headache he was developing wasn't helping.

"That's okay, dear," she sad, smiling again. "You can think about it later."

He nodded. She got up and began walking to the door. She was almost out of the room by the time he spoke again.

"Ms. Takahashi?"

She turned.

"Yes?"

He looked away, his gaze dropping to the floor.

"…Thank you. For all of this."

She smiled again, the smile actually reaching her eyes, unlike when Izayoi or Inuyasha smiled, and left the room, leaving him alone with his thoughts once more.

**A/N Not much action in this chapter, but I'm satisfied with it. Also, I know that's _probably_ not Miroku's, or his mom's, last name, but I couldn't think of anything else. **

**Sadly, I feel a bad case of writer's block coming on… *Shudders* Maybe a need to go to the hospital, too.**


End file.
